


Felicity Maynard and Lucy Peters: Exotic Dancers

by mandykaysfic



Category: Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, F/F, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 20:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13348707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandykaysfic/pseuds/mandykaysfic
Summary: Being educated at the Chalet School doesn't always lead one into the career of one's choice.This is the story of how Felicity and Lucy  came to be exotic dancers.





	Felicity Maynard and Lucy Peters: Exotic Dancers

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the Finishing School FB group's list of alternative career book titles.

The stairs creaked rhythmically, in time with her slow tread as Felicity Maynard climbed to the third floor bedsitter she shared with her great friend, Lucy Peters. She practised smiling, but when Lucy opened the door, she couldn't prevent her mouth turning down and her lips trembling

"Another knock-back," said Lucy sympathetically. "I've got the kettle on. I'll make you a cup of tea."

"We should never have stayed on at the Chalet School." Dispiritedly, she tossed the bag containing her leotard, tights and ballet shoes into the corner. "Jean didn't realise how lucky she was, winning that scholarship to a proper ballet school when she was fourteen.

"Len's dream was to teach. She's Head of the English Department at St Margaret's. Con wanted to write, and now looks set to become the new Agatha Christie. Margot's doing her nun thing in the tropics. I still don't understand it, but she got to follow her calling. Stephen's off building bridges, Mike's in the Navy, and Chas is an architect."

"Cecil's in Australia singing opera, Geoff is following Mary-Lou's footsteps in archaeology and Phyl, with her typing speed of one hundred words per minute, is Rosalie's assistant at the Chalet School. Even Felix got to drop out of university and become an actor, without the parents' objections, while we had to forgo our best chance at a career in what we love to stay at a school where ballet classes were a weekend extra. If we'd only been talented musicians, or even singers, they would have given us extra teaching and practice." Lucy completed Felicity's oft-repeated litany. "Here, love, drink this. It'll make you feel better."

Felicity took the mug of tea. "Sorry," she murmured sheepishly. "I do go on sometimes, don't I? It's only that I'm tired of serving tea and cakes in _Aunt Mary's Tea Rooms_ when all I want to do is dance."

"Selling books isn't my cup of tea either."

Silence reigned as the girls sipped their drinks. 

"Is that spring sticking into you again?" asked Felicity when she noticed Lucy moving uneasily on her chair.

"Oh, no. It's not that." Lucy stood up and looked at the worn upholstery on the easy chair they'd found in a second-hand shop. Somehow the girls had managed to get it upstairs and into their rooms without damaging the walls, the chair or themselves. They hadn't yet found time to recover it properly, making do with a folded towel to pad out the seat.

Lucy put her mug down on the table, and eyed Felicity uncertainly.

"What is it? You've got something to tell me and you think I'm not going to like it," said Felicity shrewdly.

"You did say all you want to do is dance, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course!"

"So if there was a dancing job that wasn't ballet, you'd at least consider it?"

"Unless it's as a member of a Morris team, you know I would."

"Ha ha! No, this would be the last place anyone would find a Morris team."

"Hmm. Dancing job. Not ballet. Not Morris. A dance teacher's position? No, that would include ballet. There's nothing locally going in a theatre production just now. Would we have to move? Wait, I've heard dancers can get jobs on ships. You've found jobs advertised on one of the big ocean liners, haven't you? Ooh, we might get to Australia. I could see Cecil, and some of the cousins. Where do we apply?"

Lucy couldn't hold back a wide grin at seeing her friend's exuberance, but she sobered quickly enough when she took a piece of crumpled paper from her pocket.

"Sorry, not a job on a cruise ship, although it would be magnificent. No, it's nothing like that at all. Promise me you'll hear me out."

"Lucy...that doesn't instil me with confidence. Very well, I promise."

"It's three nights a week--"

"Nights!" screeched Felicity, immediately forgetting her promise. "Oop! Please continue." She waved her hand apologetically in Lucy's direction.

"The tips are said to be amazing."

"And...?" Impatiently, Felicity tapped her foot when Lucy didn't continue.

"ThePussyCatClubishiringmoreexoticdancers." The words spilled out of Lucy's mouth in a rush.

"Pourriez-vous répéter s'il vous plaît," requested Felicity, in her best Chalet School French.

"The Pussy Cat Club is hiring more exotic dancers," repeated Lucy, this time slowly and clearly.

"That's what I thought you said. Um, would we not have to remove our clothes?" Felicity pictured the posters outside the club. The women in the pictures wore tiny, tiny spangled costumes, while there were few pictures where the dancers were covered only with strategically drawn stars.

"We get to dance," pointed out Lucy.

"Without clothes."

"Actually, we start out wearing clothes, we just end up wearing fewer of them by the time the routine finishes."

"What would Mama say? What would _Papa_ say?" Felicity reverted to the baby names she used for her parents and gabbled something unintelligble in French.

"We don't tell them," said Lucy patiently when Felicity paused to draw breath. "We keep our day jobs. Wait. I have something to show you." She retrieved a brown paper bag from behind her chair. 

Together, the girls pored over a book Lucy had brought home from work. They oohed and aahed over the black and white photos of burlesque dancers that were interspersed with the occasional colour picture. 

Lucy nudged Felicity with her elbow. "What do you say? Shall we try out?" 

Felicity pondered a little longer. "We need to practise something suitable. We can't turn up and expect them to hire the Sugar Plum Fairy or Odette. Besides...," she paused and blushed. "We should be able to act like we're used to being naked, or at least almost naked on stage and not just in the dressing rooms." She pointed to a picture of Tempest Storm wearing pasties and sequined bikini pants. "We'll need new names, too. I'm certain her parents didn't name her Tempest Storm!"

"That's true, _Flixy De-lixy_."

"Too similar to Felicity, _Letitia_...er...Lettuce," responded Felicity with a giggle. She stood and faced Lucy. "Um...you don't think they'll say my breasts are too small?" She cupped her hands under her chest as she looked down at herself.

"Uh uh. It's all in how you move. You should know that. Anyway, mine are just as small. I'll show you." 

Lucy cleared a small space. The girls rarely practised at home for fear it would disturb the neighbours, and preferring the local ballet studio with its barre and big mirrors. Stretching to keep limber was something they could, and did, do. Lucy set up the small record player and quickly found what she was looking for.

"When I give the word, you start it," she ordered. "Make sure the volume is low."

Felicity crouched by the table, ready to place the needle onto the record as it turned. Lucy disappeared into the bedroom, from where Felicity could hear the dresser drawers opening and closing. 

"Now!" Lucy called out.

Felicity lowered the needle into position and quickly settled onto the armchair, eager to see what Lucy had planned.

' _I've posed for pictures with Iv'ry Soap. I've petted stray dogs, and shied clear of dope_ ' sang Eartha Kitt, as Lucy, wearing a frilly blouse, long skirt and her best pair of court shoes, slinked sensously into the room.

Wide-eyed, Felicity watched Lucy undo the buttons on her shirt, one whilst facing Felicity, the next after turning and looking saucily over her shoulder. Lucy bared and covered her shoulder several times, before dispensing with her shirt all together and flinging it in Felicity's direction, where it missed Felicity altogether and sailed over the back of the chair.

Lucy lowered the zipper on her skirt until she could work it past her hips and step carefully out of it. Ballet training is good for the balance, thought Felicity. She didn't realise she licked her lips as entranced, she followed Lucy's every move. The plain white bra was next to go, coinciding with the end of the song.

"Oh," sighed Felicity. "That was...."

"Timing, we'll need to work on timing as well," said Lucy breathlessly. She knelt on the floor and looked up at her friend. "So, do you think...?"

"We'll need a few days to get organised, but yes! Let's dance."

**Author's Note:**

> Not a series now, but I may eventually be inspired to add a few more careers.


End file.
